> "When the cradle breaks, it does not shatter in silence. It wails like a mother losing time."
Liora's Fall
Blood and light danced around her.
Liora struck the last Hollowbinder with a searing cry, her feathers half-burnt, her knees buckling. The pendant pulsed wildly now — the child's flame screaming through her ribs.
> "I held the light… but not for me," she whispered, falling beside the temple stones.
And as her eyes closed, the flame within her surged out — rising into the sky like a comet toward the Hollow where Seraphina stood.
—
Far above, the hooded Cradleless leader turned to the Silent King.
> "The Guardian is fallen."
The king only murmured:
> "Then the cradle weeps. And so the flame… cries."
-– The Hollow Awakens
Ravon stumbled to his feet. His eyes glowed like star-coals.
> "She gave the last of her guard. The child's path clears."
Seraphina turned — light wrapping around her.
> "She died for us."
> "No," the child's voice echoed within her. "She rose for me."
The pendant Liora carried landed softly in Seraphina's hand — still warm.
At once, the Hollow shook.
Ashborne spirits appeared — those long fallen in the first war.
They knelt.
> "Queen of Flame. Guardian of the Cradle. The child has chosen. Shall we burn?"
And Seraphina, her voice laced with sorrow and wrath, said:
> "Let the veil bleed. Let the heavens know.
The flame cries — not in weakness,
but in wrath."
Liora's body disappears into the stars. A constellation forms: the Phoenix Flame.
The Cradleless army marches toward the Hollow.
The Silent King draws a blade that weeps black fire.
Seraphina leads the Ashborne toward war — the flame now a banner.
> "Before breath… there is fire."
> "At the end of all things, there stood a woman with fire in her womb and fury in her hands."
---
🜂 Scene I – The First Blow
They came like a storm —
The Cradleless legions in cloaks of mourning,
The Silent King in mirrorsteel armor,
The Hollowbinders whispering broken prayers.
Before the broken Hollow gate stood:
Seraphina, glowing with embers.
Ravon, eyes shadowlit, standing by her side.
And behind them, the Ashborne army, risen from forgotten fire.
> "This is sacred ground," Seraphina called, her voice like thunder through silk.
"You will not pass."
The Silent King raised his hand — and the first volley struck.
Flames. Screams. The battle began.
---
🜃 Scene II – The Ashborne Burn
Ashborne warriors ignited their soulflame, charging headlong into the darkness.
They moved as one — warriors reborn, fire laced into their bones.
Each Cradleless they struck fell into silence.
But for each enemy slain, two more appeared.
Seraphina and Ravon fought back-to-back — their bond glowing, pulsing.
> "They want the child," Ravon growled.
"Then let them taste the wrath of its parents," she answered.
And with that, they rose into the sky —
Seraphina wielding flame like a sword,
Ravon calling the shadows to his wings.
---
Scene III – The Veil Cracks Again
Suddenly, the veil above trembled — the gate between realms thin as sorrow.
From within, the Blind Oracle screamed.
> "You dare war beneath the child's breath?
Then you will burn before it cries!"
A tear in the sky opened — and light poured in, golden and terrible.
The battlefield paused — both sides shaken.
Seraphina raised her hand.
From her palm, the pendant Liora died to protect rose — glowing like a dying star.
> "This child will be born into fire," she said.
"But not alone."
– The Silent King Descends
The Silent King walked through fire without flinching.
> "You are no queen," he said coldly.
"You are a cradle to be shattered. A vessel to be emptied."
Seraphina stepped forward, her belly glowing faintly.
> "And yet… here I stand."
Their swords met — mirror against flame —
and the earth shook as prophecy broke its silence.
---
Ravon is wounded again, but something dark rises behind his eyes — something Old.
Seraphina burns brighter than ever — but something in her pulse shifts… the child is ready.
The Silent King stumbles back, bleeding for the first time in a thousand years.
> "Before the child breathes…" the Oracle gasps,
"The king will fall. And flame will crown flames.
---